Computing systems such as laptops, tablets and notebooks produce heat by converting electricity to computing power. Manufacturers have long addressed such heat by connecting heat sinks to the hottest components, including CPU and GPU. Those heat sinks are placed in front of fans that extract heat by blowing air into the opposite side of the heat sink. Hot air is usually driven directly out of the computing system enclosure afterwards.
Historically, the majority of computing systems would have an air intake located on the bottom surface. Since the arrival of aluminum cased laptops and tablets, air intake has moved to other places such as keyboard and external ports on the side. The bottom of those aluminum cased computing systems then serves as passive cooling, dissipating heat on the entire surface.
Regardless of the air intake position, computing system cooling has always been a challenge in terms of efficiency, power consumption, noise, and space.
Over the years, media content have become heavier and software programs have become more complex to process. This created the need for more powerful CPU and GPU engines.
Key components (such as CPU, GPU or SOC) of computing systems should always remain below 200° F. Fans and embedded cooling system should be dimensioned accordingly.
Due to the reliance upon batteries in portable computing systems, power consumption is a critical matter. Cooling systems have improved over the years to consume as little power as possible.
Many improvements have also been made to reduce the noise generated by the cooling on laptops and computers in general. These improvements have been made for productivity and comfort reasons amongst others.
Like other components in computing systems, cooling components have drastically decreased in size during the past couple of years. These reductions in computing components sizes were aimed at improving portability and mobility for users.
Due to recent competition on thinness, some laptops are now passively cooled. The heat sink is directly connected to the aluminum enclosure, which acts as the only source of heat dissipation.
This trend towards portability makes it more difficult to accommodate more powerful components. Indeed, more powerful components typically require even more robust cooling systems. As a result, laptops, ultrabooks, and other computing systems have a tendency to overheat during peak usage.